Student Spotlight: Breanna Bongle

Breanna Bongle is a senior here at Southern Door who has played in the pit during the musical for three years now. In an interview, when asked how hard it is to play in the pit, she said: “It honestly differs depending on the production and the difficulty of the music. Right now with Beauty and the Beast, a lot of the time I feel stressed because of the amount of music and having to play three instruments. But underneath all that stress I truly enjoy playing music. The music [this year] is quite difficult, with the majority of it being in cut time and faster tempos. I believe that the show will be ready and I have faith that it will all come together.”

Students in the pit orchestra play alongside professional musicians. “Personally I enjoy having the professional musicians come and play,” Bongle commented. “Students can learn from their experience… I believe that the school should continue hiring professionals because not every student wants to play in the pit. [Ms.] Files tries hard to fill the spots with students to give them the experience; however, not every student is willing to put in the time and most of the time it’s odd instruments that our school just doesn’t have.”

For students wondering whether this opportunity is for them, Breanna assured, “Experience-wise, you can just have you basic knowledge of rhythms and notation; however, you are going to learn new things such as vamps (repeat a section until you get a cue to continue), segues (move right into the next either after applause or straight away) and tacet (when you don’t play for a whole song). Preparation depends on your knowledge and what is hard and easy for you. Once we start putting things together on stage, there is constant changes such as adding in repeats, scene change music, and cuts. I remember my first year participating in the pit, and I was very overwhelmed and nervous. But once we put everything together I fell in love with pit. It may be long, stressful nights but it’s something everyone has to deal with in the production. I encourage band members to talk to [Ms.] Files about pit opportunities, and don’t let the music intimidate you because once it comes together it is a lot easier than it looks.”